Paul Jacobs, organ

Next: The Pacific Symphony presents "Singin' in the Rain," performed live with film at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday.

How much: $40-$185

Call: 714-755-5799

Online: www.pacificsymphony.org

Having performed in three concerts with the Pacific Symphony last week, organist Paul Jacobs stayed on to present a solo recital Sunday night in Segerstrom Concert Hall.

The Grammy-winning Jacobs is one of this country's foremost exponents of Music for his instrument. Chairman of the organ department at Juilliard, he is noted for his marathon concerts in which he has performed the complete organ works of Bach (18 hours' worth) and Messiaen. He has already managed, in his mid-30s, to perform in all 50 states.

Sunday's program was a serious one that explored the music of the 19th and 20th century French composer/organists who had positions in the great Parisian cathedrals. Most of the pieces were concert works rather than sacred, though, and there were regular doses throughout the concert of virtuosic thunder and lightning to keep the common listener unfamiliar with this repertoire entertained.

What's more, though Jacobs sat high above the stage with his back to the audience at the Gillespie Concert Organ, a couple of well positioned video cameras captured him and the instrument in close-up and the images were projected on a large screen placed on stage. The camera work was excellent – with sweeps and fades and pans maybe too excellent (i.e. distracting) at times – and we could see Jacobs' every move. Seeing an organist, or at least this organist, manage an instrument with more than 4,300 pipes – dancing on the pedals, hands leaping between four keyboards, stops pulled on the fly – is an awe-inspiring spectacle in itself.

Judging the quality of this music is no easy thing in the face of that spectacle and I occasionally closed my eyes to get a better bead. Some of it could seem a little fuddy-duddy, or maybe just second rate. The famed pedagogue Nadia Boulanger's Prelude in F minor was plain and simple to a fault, though it was good to hear it. Alexandre Guilmant's Sonata No. 1 in D minor had several engaging ideas in it but the composer repeated them too much.

In any case, two works stood clearly above the others in their seriousness and ingenuity: Maurice Duruflé's Suite, Op. 5, and three pieces from Olivier Messiaen's "Livre du Saint Sacrement." Durufle's 25-minute work made its way intricately, somberly and sophisticatedly; its finale was strenuous. Messiaen's three pieces – "The Hidden God," "The Multiplied Presence," "Prayer after Communion" – were in his other-planet mode, gnarled and serene, granitic and star-bedazzled, sincere and weird.

Jacobs is an honest and straightforward performer. Except for the occasional arm flourish at the end of a piece, he doesn't draw attention to his virtuosity, which is entirely unlabored. His interpretive approach is clear and direct, even measured, so that the music appears to unwind of its own accord, by its own power.

His registration choices (the arrangement of stops) proved nicely colorful and varietal, but balanced, never jarring. He gave spoken introductions to all of the pieces, which, among other things, allowed us to understand how much he loved them.

He opened with Louis Vierne's celebratory finale to the Symphony No. 1, an entertaining attention-grabber. In encore, he bid adieu with another rip-roaring favorite, Charles-Marie Widor's "Toccata." Lastly, it seems an impressive enough feat to mention that the entire evening was performed from memory.

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